Sources

Agent mode is generally available for all Copilot users in VS Code; the docs are organized around local and cloud agents, subagents, and planning.

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/agents/overview · as of 2026-07-06

Custom agents are defined in .agent.md files (renamed from .chatmode.md), discovered from .github/agents/, .claude/agents/, and ~/.copilot/agents; frontmatter fields are description, tools, model, handoffs, agents, and user-invocable, and the definitions are honored by the cloud agent.

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/custom-agents · as of 2026-07-06

Instruction sources are .github/copilot-instructions.md (always on), AGENTS.md (gated by chat.useAgentsMdFile, with experimental nested files) and CLAUDE.md interop, plus scoped *.instructions.md files with an applyTo glob.

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/custom-instructions · as of 2026-07-06

Prompt files are reusable .prompt.md files invoked as slash commands in chat.

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/prompt-files · as of 2026-07-06

Agent Skills are SKILL.md folders discovered from .github/skills/ and peers, an Anthropic-originated open standard, enabled by default across VS Code, the Copilot CLI, and the cloud agent.

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/agent-skills · as of 2026-07-06

Hooks are .github/hooks/*.json files that gate lifecycle events — SessionStart, UserPromptSubmit, PreToolUse, PostToolUse, Stop, Subagent events, and PreCompact.

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/hooks · as of 2026-07-06

Tool sets group tools so an agent can be pointed at a small menu; they are configured through Chat: Configure Tool Sets.

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/agent-tools · as of 2026-07-06

The plan agent produces a reviewable plan and writes it to .copilot/plans/.

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/agents/planning · as of 2026-07-06

Subagents are invoked via agent/runSubagent and run in parallel by default.

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/agents/subagents · as of 2026-07-06

The cloud agent (formerly the coding agent) runs in a GitHub Actions sandbox and opens a pull request, with a model picker and a self-review pass.

https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/using-github-copilot/coding-agent · as of 2026-07-06

Agent HQ and mission control, announced October 2025, bring third-party agents from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Cognition, and xAI into Copilot subscriptions.

https://github.blog/news-insights/product-news/welcome-home-agents/ · as of 2026-07-06

Claude Sonnet 5 reached general availability in Copilot on 2026-06-30.

https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/reference/ai-models/supported-models · as of 2026-07-06

Claude Opus 4.8 reached general availability in Copilot on 2026-05-28, with a fast mode in preview from 2026-06-29.

https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/reference/ai-models/supported-models · as of 2026-07-06

Claude Sonnet 4.6 reached general availability in Copilot on 2026-02-17.

https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/reference/ai-models/supported-models · as of 2026-07-06

Claude Sonnet 4.5, Opus 4.5 through 4.7, and Haiku 4.5 are generally available in Copilot.

https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/reference/ai-models/supported-models · as of 2026-07-06

Premium requests are metered by a per-model multiplier against a monthly allowance; the multipliers change, so the pricing page is the source of truth before quoting any number.

https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/managing-copilot/understanding-and-managing-copilot-usage/about-premium-requests · as of 2026-07-06

MCP servers are configured in a workspace .vscode/mcp.json under the servers key (not mcpServers); inputs support promptString, pickString, and command with password: true and ${input:id}; server types are stdio and http (http supports OAuth, including enterprise-managed), with a sandbox option and a dev mode, and chat.mcp.access / .discovery / .autostart govern them.

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/mcp-servers · as of 2026-07-06

The GitHub MCP server is remote at https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/ and authenticates with OAuth in VS Code — no personal access token required.

https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/customizing-copilot/using-model-context-protocol/using-the-github-mcp-server · as of 2026-07-06

The Microsoft Learn MCP server is remote at https://learn.microsoft.com/api/mcp, type http, and requires no authentication.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/support/mcp · as of 2026-07-06

The Azure MCP server ships as the @azure/mcp npm package and a VS Code extension.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/developer/azure-mcp-server/ · as of 2026-07-06

The Playwright MCP server (@playwright/mcp) drives the browser through the accessibility tree; it supports persistent-profile, --isolated with --storage-state, and browser-extension modes, a --caps flag for vision, pdf, devtools, storage, network, and testing, and the chrome, firefox, webkit, and msedge browsers.

https://github.com/microsoft/playwright-mcp · as of 2026-07-06

Autonomous agents and event triggers are generally available in Copilot Studio (GA March 2025); a usage estimator arrived April 2026.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot-studio/whats-new · as of 2026-07-06

Multi-agent orchestration and agent-to-agent (A2A) are generally available in Copilot Studio (GA April 2026), alongside M365 Agents SDK orchestration and Fabric data agents.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot-studio/whats-new · as of 2026-07-06

Computer use is generally available in Copilot Studio (GA 2026-05-13) with bring-your-own machine GA and a hosted browser / Cloud PC pool in preview; models include Claude Sonnet 4.5.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot-studio/whats-new · as of 2026-07-06

MCP is generally available in Copilot Studio (GA May 2025) via the connector infrastructure, inheriting DLP and VNet controls, over streamable HTTP, exposing tools, resources, and prompts.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot-studio/agent-extend-action-mcp · as of 2026-07-06

Agent flows are generally available in Copilot Studio (GA March 2025) and bill 13 credits per 100 actions; a Workflows experience is in preview.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot-studio/whats-new · as of 2026-07-06

Copilot Studio agents publish to Teams and M365 Copilot (GA) and to the Agent Store; real-time voice via Dynamics 365 Contact Center reached GA May 2026.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot-studio/whats-new · as of 2026-07-06

Copilot Studio lists Claude Sonnet 4.5 and 4.6 and Opus (GA March 2026) and supports bring-your-own model via a Foundry connector.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot-studio/whats-new · as of 2026-07-06

Copilot Studio meters Copilot Credits (about $0.01 each): a generative answer is 2, an agent action 5, tenant-graph grounding 10, and agent flows 13 per 100 actions; autonomous agent runs always consume credits.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot-studio/requirements-messages-management · as of 2026-07-06

Copilot Studio agent evaluations are generally available (GA March 2026) with a CI/CD API; Entra agent identities are in preview.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot-studio/whats-new · as of 2026-07-06

The Copilot Studio VS Code extension reached general availability in January 2026, keeping agent definitions in the same repo as everything else.

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/blog/copilot-studio-vs-code-extension · as of 2026-07-06

Microsoft states the direction that role agents move into M365 Copilot: the Sales agent is described as the evolution of Copilot in Dynamics 365 Sales.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/sales/copilot-overview · as of 2026-07-06

The Dynamics 365 Customer Service Agent reached general availability on 2026-06-30, backed by a Customer Service MCP server with more than 70 tools.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/customer-service/administer/customer-service-agent · as of 2026-07-06

The Sales Qualification Agent (research-only or research-and-engage, with multiple instances per environment in 2026 release wave 1) and the Sales Research Agent are generally available; the Sales Close Agent is in preview, and agent runs are consumption-billed via Copilot Credits.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/sales/sales-qualification-agent · as of 2026-07-06

The Customer Service Case Management, Customer Intent, Quality Evaluation, and Customer Knowledge Management agents reached general availability in October 2025.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/release-plan/2026wave1/service/dynamics365-customer-service/ · as of 2026-07-06

Dynamics 365 Contact Center Customer Assist and Quality Assurance agents are generally available; a Service Operations agent is in preview (April 2026).

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/contact-center/implement/overview-agents · as of 2026-07-06

The release-wave structure is unchanged: 2026 release wave 1 covers April–September 2026, with communications moving toward lighter, more frequent updates.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/release-plans/ · as of 2026-07-06

The Dataverse MCP server (data plane) is in public preview at https://{org}.crm.dynamics.com/api/mcp; it requires per-environment enablement and an allowed-clients list (Copilot Studio, VS Code GitHub Copilot, GitHub Copilot CLI, Claude Desktop, Claude Code), and its tools — search_data, search, create_record and peers, read_query, describe, skills, and file — were renamed after June 2026, so allowlists must be updated.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-apps/maker/data-platform/data-platform-mcp · as of 2026-07-06

The Dataverse Management MCP server reached general availability on 2026-04-30.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/management-mcp · as of 2026-07-06

Non-Microsoft MCP clients reach Dataverse through the @microsoft/dataverse npm proxy or the remote endpoint plus an Entra app registration.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-apps/maker/data-platform/data-platform-mcp-other-clients · as of 2026-07-06

Dataverse MCP tools are metered for agents outside Copilot Studio since 2025-12-15; Dynamics 365 Premium and the M365 Copilot user subscription license are exempt for Dynamics data.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-apps/maker/data-platform/data-platform-mcp · as of 2026-07-06

Power Fx AI functions (AISummarize, AITranslate, AIClassify, AIExtract, AIReply, AISentiment) are generally available; prompt columns are in preview (max five per table), business skills are in preview, and Dataverse-in-M365-Copilot rolled out June 2026.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/release-plan/2026wave1/data-platform/ · as of 2026-07-06

CDX was renamed MDX (Microsoft Demo eXperiences) at cdx.transform.microsoft.com; access is for Microsoft employees, Partner-Center-enrolled partners, and MVPs, with 90-day and 1-year experiences, and current experiences include M365 Copilot.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/developer/devenv-demo-environment-mdx · as of 2026-07-06

The Dynamics 365 Sales 30-day trial ships with sample data and a guided tour; equivalent trials exist for Customer Service, Field Service, and Customer Insights.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/sales/sign-up-for-sales-trial · as of 2026-07-06

Sample-data paths include the built-in Install Sample Data (admin center or the InstallSampleData API), the Configuration Migration Tool (pac tool cmt), dataflows and OData, and the Web API bulk operations CreateMultiple, UpsertMultiple, and $batch.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-apps/developer/data-platform/bulk-operations · as of 2026-07-06

The FastTrack Copilot Studio Sample Data Agent generates demo data without code and ships in the Dynamics-365-FastTrack-Implementation-Assets repository.

https://github.com/microsoft/Dynamics-365-FastTrack-Implementation-Assets · as of 2026-07-06

Work IQ debuted at Ignite 2025 as the work-signals grounding layer (emails, calendar, files, Teams messages) of the Microsoft IQ family — Work IQ, Foundry IQ, Fabric IQ, and Web IQ — surfaced in the Copilot Studio agent experience (Build 2026, preview) and in M365 Copilot; Work IQ APIs reached general availability in June 2026, with the public API surface still expanding.

https://news.microsoft.com/ignite-2025-book-of-news/ · as of 2026-07-06

M365 Copilot meeting prep drafts a brief over your own mail and calendar; Microsoft has cited a self-reported figure of roughly 90 minutes per week saved by sellers.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/ · as of 2026-07-06

The Sales agent in M365 Copilot is positioned as the evolution of Copilot in Dynamics 365 Sales, working over your own mail and calendar and CRM.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-sales-copilot/sales-copilot-overview · as of 2026-07-06

Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services' packaged Dataverse solutions were deprecated component by component through 2023–2025 (Financial Meeting Prep effective 2025-10-01, moving to the LSEG Workspace Teams app; the financial-document-analysis skill effective 2025-08-04; Collaboration Manager for Loans and peers in 2023-09-01), the FSI documentation set was removed, and the offering was refocused as 'Microsoft for Financial Services' platform guidance — there is no packaged industry data model today.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/industry/financial-services/overview · as of 2026-07-06

Agent 365, a governance control plane for agents, was announced at Ignite 2025 alongside Entra Agent ID, which gives agents first-class identities.

https://news.microsoft.com/ignite-2025-book-of-news/ · as of 2026-07-06

The EU Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) has applied since 2025-01-17; Purview Compliance Manager provides DORA assessment templates, and Microsoft offers a financial-services contractual amendment.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/trust-center/compliance/dora · as of 2026-07-06

Public financial-services references include Investec (Copilot for Sales, a self-reported ~200 hours per banker per year), Lloyds (30,000 Copilot users), ABN AMRO (Copilot Studio, 3.5M+ conversations), and Morningstar (MCP with Copilot Studio).

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/customers/ · as of 2026-07-06

MSX ('Microsoft Sellers Experience') is Microsoft's internal seller CRM, built on Dynamics 365, per a Microsoft-authored paper.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.04732 · as of 2026-07-06

MSX Copilot was released in July 2023.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.04732 · as of 2026-07-06

Microsoft sellers have historically worked across MSX, Dynamics 365, Outlook, and Teams.

https://www.microsoft.com/insidetrack/blog/ · as of 2026-07-06

MSX Insights is described as the business-intelligence layer on Microsoft Fabric, with a reported 40,000+ users.

https://www.microsoft.com/insidetrack/blog/ · as of 2026-07-06

A Daily Recommender is described as surfacing next-best actions to sellers in MSX.

https://www.microsoft.com/insidetrack/blog/ · as of 2026-07-06

MSX's internal architecture, entity model, and modules are not publicly documented; only the facts above are public.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.04732 · as of 2026-07-06